


The Very Helpful Mandy Milkovich

by AwesomeAA



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-typical language, Dealing with the warm mouth comment, Embarrassment, First Kiss, Good Brother Lip Gallagher, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mandy spilling the beans, Mickey Uses His Words, Pining, Protective Lip Gallagher, Sad Ian Gallagher, Season/Series 03, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Worth Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-10-30 05:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17822510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwesomeAA/pseuds/AwesomeAA
Summary: When Mandy finds hickies on Ian, she confronts him about getting back together with his mystery man ... in front of Mickey. The conversation that ensues leaves no stone unturned. It's as awkward and embarrassing as expected as Mandy unknowingly pushes their relationship to a whole new level.This is set somewhere early season three after the whole warm mouth comment and 3x03 but before 3x05





	1. The Conversation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set somewhere early season three before the kiss in 3x05 but after 3x03.  
> The perspective is all over the place  
> Warning; Slurs are used but like canon-typical usage

“Are those hickies? You didn’t tell me you were hooking up with anybody!” Mandy complained as she lent over to Ian pulling down the collar of his shirt to get a better look. Ian swatted at her hand halfheartedly trying to get her to stop. He could feel Mickey tense from across the room.

“Oh my god who is it?” She demanded, crossing her arms petulantly like a child. She stared at him intensely, and Ian almost wanted to tell her just to get her to look away, but he knew that wouldn’t end well for anyone in the room. He was hyper aware of Mickey’s quick sideways glances as he tried to pretend that he had no interest in their conversation. 

“Nobody” Ian said, shrugging his shoulders. He tried to refocus on the tv, recklessly hoping the conversation was over. Mickey looked between Ian and Mandy. He knew they were close but there was no way Ian told Mandy about them she would’ve mentioned it to him. 

“Come on teeeell me” Mandy whined, jutting out her bottom lip. She draped her legs over Ian lightly kicking his knee. 

“Company” Ian tried to remind her in an attempt to end the conversation. Mandy knew how homophobic her family was, how supposedly homophobic Mickey was, she wouldn’t out him to Mickey.

“Mickey doesn’t give a fuck, and I would fuck him up if he tried anything” She said glaring at the Milkovich brother. Ian avoided her eyes nervously, scrambling to think of a way to avoid answering. Mickey just shrugged his shoulders, this part was kind of his fault. Last week he had accidentally let slip to Mandy that he knew Gallagher was gay, with an off handed comment about his tendency to fuck the elderly. She had immediately gone on the defensive for her supposed boyfriend, threatening Mickey with a fiery look in her eyes, but once he reassured her that he could care less (and oh if only that was true his life would be a lot easier) she calmed down a bit. The soft, almost proud look in her eyes when she looked at Mickey afterwards almost made the whole conversation worth it. But he couldn’t help but feel afraid, it was one step closer to somebody finding about him and Ian. 

Ian just shook his head vigorously. Mandy froze realization dawning on her face, Ian desperately tried to think of something to distract her but there was nothing stopping her now.

“NO!” Mandy exclaimed, a furious look in her eyes, “Ian tell me you didn’t”

“Mandy” Ian said lowly, a hint of desperation in his voice. He tried to put his hands on her shoulder and calm her down but she just shook him off. Across the room, Mickey was getting morbidly curious, any pretense of pretending he wasn’t interested went out the window as he watched them intently completely confused.

“Do not tell me-” She pushed herself up, taking her legs off Ian’s lap. Ian cut her off trying to stop this conversation before it got any worse than it already was. He was acutely aware of Mickey in the room, there was no way this conversation ended well for either party. For a terrifying moment his mind flashed back to both times Mickey went to juvie, both because somebody had found out about them. Their relationship or whatever they were doing was just starting to recover from the harsh words Mickey had told him before he went to find Frank. Ian was still trying to convince himself that Mickey cared about him even if it was hard to find any proof in real life. 

“Mandy, come on please” Ian was a step away from full blown begging, he would if that’s what it took to end this line of questioning, but Mandy was on a mission.

“Ian you promised me. Why the fuck would you go back to that piece of shit? Did you forget what he did to you? The way he made you feel. You deserve better than that I wish you knew that too” She sounded heartbroken at the idea of Ian not knowing he deserved somebody who actually appreciated him. She remembered the day months ago when she found Ian red eyed, curled up in his bed, he’d obviously been crying. It had taken her forever to drag the story out of him, quietly promising herself to one day beat the shit out of whoever had done this to Ian. He had always been her light, her rock ever since she met him. At first she was sure she loved him. She loved the way he cared, gave everything he had no matter how many times the world beat him down. She had been heartbroken when she first found out he was gay, but it just made their relationship that much more meaningful. Somebody who cared about her without expecting anything back. She wanted to protect him at all costs and it hurt her to know she couldn’t do that. 

Mickey felt sick with a surge of jealousy. He knew Gallagher had fucked around when he was in juvie, and why the fuck should he care? They weren’t boyfriends or some shit like that. In fact he went out of his way to prove that cutting all their fucking sessions short whenever it got too faggy, but he hadn’t thought Gallagher was seeing anyone other than the leathery skinned bastard he saw at the Kash and Grab. Had Gallgher gotten a serious boyfriend while he was in juvie? It sounded like Mandy really hated whoever the fucker was. Mickey silently promised himself to the beat the shit out of whoever it was, he might have to wait a few years to keep Mandy and Ian from suspecting shit, but nobody messed with his- with Mandy’s boyfriend.

“Who’s the fucker Mandy’s getting all wound up about?” Mickey couldn’t help but ask. Ian whipped around, staring at him with a fearful wide eyed look. He almost felt bad, but his curiosity won out. 

“This piece of shit guy Ian was seeing a while ago. They were together for like two years and this closeted asshole was a complete dick even though Ian was completely in love with him” Mandy said viciously. Mickey felt his heart drop, he quickly glanced at Ian, whose entire face was flushed red, the tip of his ears were burning. Ian was desperately avoiding Mickey’s eyes like his life depended on it.

“Mandy!” Ian shouted, throwing his hands up exasperatedly. 

“What? It it’s true” She said unapologetically. She looked at Ian quietly for a minute. He fleetingly hoped that this was the end. Hopefully something was salvageable from this conversation.  
“Fuck Ian, you’re more than just your body. You deserve more that. Somebody who isn’t just gonna use you for your looks. I’m one lucky ass girlfriend and it’s not just because you hot as fuck” Mandy said softly, moving to run her fingers through his hair. She looked at him sadly. She knew how he felt about his body, he wasn’t as smart as Lip or as ruthless as Fiona, he felt like the one thing he got going for him was his body and sex. The people in his life just reinforced that, from Kash praying on him as a young teenager and fucking up his view of his body to this closeted asshole reducing his worth to his sex ability.

“He said you were only a warm mouth to him after what a year? Fuck him, who says that shit. I know you said it was just sex but you obviously loved him and he can’t just go around shitting on your emotions, being an asshole whenever he wants.” She said angrily, she forgot that they weren't alone, but in that moment it didn't matter, this had been on her mind for a while. Her emotions were giving Ian whiplash as he tried to keep up with where her head was at. Mickey felt his world shift, he felt like he just drank an entire bottle of vodka, he wanted to puke. He wanted to beat up himself? Ian loved him? What was happening?  
“Wait is he why you were asking how to tell if a guy likes you?” Ian watched as Mickey’s eyebrows reached his hairline. This is it this was the end of whatever had been going on between Mickey and him the past two years or so. 

“Mandy that’s it, drop it! Who I fuck isn’t your business. You shouldn’t have said shit in front of your fucking brother” Ian said, shame curling in his stomach turning to rage when he felt Mickey’s incredulous stare.  
“Fine, but I don’t care if you won’t tell me who they are. Next time they make you cry, I’m going after every fucker in Southside till I get my hands on him” Mandy said as she stormed out of the house, yelling a vague excuse of some date that went right in one ear and out the other. 

They were alone and nobody dared say a thing, heavy silence filled the living room. Ian stood still for a moment, his eyes scrunched shut like if he didn’t look then none of it was real. Mickey had no idea what to do. He wanted to say something but the fuck was he supposed to say? Ian opened his eyes and looked at Mickey for a moment, whatever he was looking for he didn’t find because he squeezed his eyes shut and got up leaving the house without a word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always wondered how fucked up Ian's self worth and his view of sex an his body must be. After Kash, the warm mouth comment, the whole gallavich relationship at the beginning, Lloyd THEN the whole club/dancer/older guys thing, just heartbreaking.


	2. The Warning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On his way to see Ian, Mickey runs into his very protective brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this was only going to be 2 chapters, but it got ridiculously long compared to the first chapter, so I split it into two chapters. There's one more after this, that's already almost 2000 words and I'm not even done writing it yet.

Mickey hung around outside the Gallaghers place, waiting for most of the day. There was a fuck ton of them, not that he knew how many but he could guess a ballpark from Ian’s stories. So he waited till he knew Frank was passed out at the Alibi, the eldest left with the black kid in the morning, and two kids had left with the weird guy that’s been hanging around. He figured it was a pretty safe bet that the coast was clear, Mandy had been steering clear of the Gallaghers to give the redhead ‘space’ since their fight. He walked up to the house, debating on just breaking in through the back but he banged on the front door before he could change his mind. He forgot about the most obvious sibling.

“The fuck do you want?” Lip snarled when he opened the door only to find Mickey fucking Milkovich standing at the doorstep. Lip closed the door halfway to keep Mickey on the porch, as he lit a cigarette. He reeked of weed and booze but he seemed clear headed.

“Is Gallagher home?” Mickey asked ignoring Lip obvious anger. When Lip raised a purposefully confused eyebrow, Mickey added, “The red head, firecrotch, carrot top” Lip just continued to stare. “Fucking Ian, man”

“Haven’t you done enough, asshole” Lip said angrily, scowling as he distastefully eyed Mickey like he was scum. That was a yes. Something clicked in Mickey’s head, as he replayed Lip’s words.  
“The fuck did he tell you?” Mickey demanded. He could feel panic crawling in his chest, what if Lip knew, who did he tell? Did he have enough time to get out of the country before his dad murdered him?  
“That’s you biggest problem at the moment? Jesus man” Lip snorted derisively, shaking his head in disbelief.  
“If he’s fucking blabbing his mouth-” Mickey cut himself off, what would he do? “If you say shit I’ll-”  
“Fuck Milkovich, I’ve known for years. He hasn’t told anybody else neither have I, and I won’t. No matter how much of an asshole you are to my brother” Lip said trying to get back to the original point. He said it carelessly like he didn’t have Mickey’s entire life at his feet, ready to be crushed. 

Mickey took a deep breath, pinching his nose. He tried to remind himself of why he was here.  
“Is he here or not?” He said impatiently, trying to put a cap on his anger. Lip eyes roamed at his face trying to find something, he must’ve found whatever he was looking for, cause he nudged the door open a bit. He lent against the doorway and blew out smoke, rubbing a hand down his face.

“Look man, Ian’s my brother. He’s got big dreams of army, the ROTC that kinda shit and he’s going to make it out of Southside if I have to drag him outta here myself. But he’s dedicated to this army crap. He can take apart a gun and put it back together, he can take down a guy twice his size and he has some crazy talent when it comes to a knife.” Lip said pointedly raising his eyebrows like he expected his words to have some kind of impact. Mickey rolled his eyes,

“What’s your point, Gallagher?” He said anger setting in.

“Shut up for a second. What I mean is I know he can handle himself alright. He’s got the skills. But I’ve known him his entire life, he’s always been my little brother, and he’s got a pretty sharp brain, but he’s has the stupidest heart I’ve ever seen. The stupid son of a bitch is loyal to a fault. That’s why Monica used to kill him as a kid. Every time she came back even when he knew she would leave again he would do everything to help her out, but she would always end up screwing him over. He takes care of everyone with everything he has, but the shithead doesn’t know how to take care of himself. He’ll let the people he cares about screw him over and over again till he’s got nothing left.” Lip stopped for a second, breathing as he closed his bloodshot eyes. Mickey knew he should speak up, say something, Milkoviches didn’t do childhood sob stories, but he found himself listening intently to what Lip was saying, reluctant to interrupt him when he started up again.

“I was even more of an asshole as a kid. Ian... Ian was something else man. He used to follow me around, we were all we had once our mom fucked off again. I was really angry back then you know? Fiona and me had to work our asses off and I just wanted to be a fucking kid. So I used to fight with Ian a lot. He’s my younger brother, he was always there whenever I was angry. Everytime we got in a fight I figured this is it, this is the the last time, he’s going to leave and not look back. We’ll go back to be fucking distant family, brothers but not- but not friends. But you know what? He came back. Every single fucking time, he came back. Even when I didn’t apologize he would just show up the next day have my back in the fights I started, tried to keep my head straight when it came to girls. He always came back. This one time after I had gone off on him the night before, he showed and took a beating with me after I mouthed off to some older kid at school. I asked him why and he said it was because I was his brother, like it was that simple. I eventually grew up and pulled my head out of my ass, but I realized how open that left him, because maybe I realized he was never going to leave and fixed my shit but other people wouldn’t, they would just keep on hurting him and just expect him to come back.” Lip narrowed his eyes, signaling that Mickey was in fact who he was talking about.

“You’ve got like three seconds Gallagher before I bash your face in. I ain’t got all day.” Mickey said. Drawing himself to full height, glaring up at Lip as he took a few menacing steps forward. Lip just tilted his head down to stare Mickey dead in the eyes, he blew out of a puff of smoke and spoke his voice quiet but something about him froze Mickey’s inside, prevented him from moving. Mickey knew he was tough, even if Gallagher had made him softer, he was still a Southside thug, Milkovich scum, but something about Lip in that moment, whether it was his tone or body language, even if he seemed casual, made him freeze.

“The point here is, he might let you back in no matter how many times you hurt him. But me? I’ve been protecting that kid his entire life, hell I owe him my life. So trust me when I say the next time you hurt him? I’ll cut your fingers off one by one and shove them so deep down your throat, you’ll be shitting your nails out for the next week. Got it?” Lip said, he inhaled a smoke from his cigarette breathing it out in Mickey’s face. He tossed his cigarette to the ground as he turned back walking into the house. He called over his shoulder “Ian’s upstairs”


	3. The Resoloution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mickey talks it out with Ian, feelings are discussed, alcohol is consumed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This turned out way longer than originally intended.

Mickey fought every instinct in him that was telling him to kick in Lip’s teeth for his assholery behavior and uphold the Milkovich name. But he was trapped the only thing he could think of right now was getting to Ian and the stupid asshole knew that he had Mickey stuck.

Mickey trudged up the stairs, pausing for a moment to glare down at Lip, who was standing at the bottom of the staircase, like a fuckn’ bodyguard or some shit ready to step in if Mickey messed up.

Mickey looked at the doors in the hallway, it had slipped his mind to ask if anyone else was home, but from the quietness that went against everything in the Gallagher name he assumed nobody was. He knew Ian shared his room with his other brothers, so the first door he checked was the one lined in police tape. He opened the door with uncharacteristic gentleness, there in the corner of the room was Ian, curled up on his bed facing away from Mickey.

“I said leave me alone.” Ian spoke without turning around. Mickey froze in the doorway Gallagher’s voice was rough and raw, like he’d been doing some heavy duty drinking or crying. Whatever he had planned on saying flew out the window and he was left with a terrifyingly empty brain. He slowly walked in the room, shutting the door behind him. Ian still didn’t move, Mickey awkwardly sat down on the edge of the bed he figured it was better than standing in the middle of the room twiddling with his thumbs.

“How many times do I have to say I’m fi-” Ian cut off his angry remark, when he turned and saw Mickey perched on the end of his bed. His eyes grew impossibly wide and he audiby swallowed. Mickey couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under his bloodshot eyes, the rumpled clothes and greasy hair. It was his fault that Gallagher was a wreck and he couldn’t help but mentally scream at himself for how long he waited to come. Screw Mandy, screw his father, screw this fucked up situation life decided to throw him in.

“Mickey” Ian said breathlessly, and it sounded so much like a prayer Mickey couldn’t help but bow his head. “I thought you were - your footsteps sound like Lip’s” Ian rambled looking anxious.

“I gathered that, firecrotch” Mickey said, running his thumb over his lower lip trying to think of what to say next. “You haven’t been around, Mandy’s worried.” _I was worried_ went unsaid, but the sound of Mandy’s name seemed to snap Ian out of his daze. Before Mickey could blink, Ian was on his knees in front of him, pushing Mickey’s legs apart and hurriedly unzipping Mickey’s pants. Mickey sat there for a moment stunned, he had been expecting a lot of things this was not one of them. When he felt Ian’s hand on his crotch, he reacted pushing Ian back. Ian fell backwards, pushing his hands back to break his fall. 

“Woah there Gallagher, the fuck are you doing?” He barked out. Ian looked up at him from his place on the floor, there was a flash of a pained look on his face, till a calm mask came down over it. If Mickey hadn’t been paying attention he wouldn’t be able to tell that anything was wrong with Gallagher, he seemed normal if a bit cold. 

“Blowjob, what else?” Gallagher said incredulously, like Mickey was the one acting weird. Mickey felt sick, a pile of bile making its way up his throat.  
“Don’t you want to talk or some shit?” Mickey asked, Gallagher was always the one pushing for more, wanting to sit there and cry about their feelings and the one time Mickey was counting on that Gallagher shut down. Inwardly Mickey cursed, the fuck was he doing here anyway? Nothing made sense to him anymore. If his dad saw him now, Mickey would be a dead man, yet here he was sticking his neck out for Gallagher over what? A weird ass conversation with his sister. A part of his brain gently reminded him about the content of said conversation but he elected to ignore it. 

“Nothing to talk about.” Ian answered shortly pushing himself up into a sitting position. His shoulders were squared, his jaw clenched like he was daring Mickey to disagree with him. Fuck that.  
“Bullshit, man” Mickey said aggressively, “After the whole thing with Mandy, I figured you'd-”  
“Stop” Ian said his voice was so full of pain Mickey honestly expected him to to tell Mickey he was shot or dying. Ian seemed to get a grasp on his emotions, “Listen, just forget about it okay? That never happened.”  
Ian knelt in front of Mickey, reaching for Mickey’s pants again, “Maybe you want me to fuck you instead” Ian said glancing up Mickey. He pulled off his shirt flinging it onto the floor carelessly, he reached up to tug at Mickey’s shirt.  
“Christ Gallagher” Mickey said, tugging free of Ian’s grasp, “The fuck is wrong with you?”  
Immediately Ian's face shutdown, for a second it looked like he was about to cry,  
“You came here. I though- I thought we were good” Ian said his voice wavering, he scrambled back into the corner of the room wrapping his arms around his bare chest. Mickey sighed to himself how did this turn into a shit show this quickly? 

“Unless you came here to end things, in which case I get it. Message received loud and clear. Actually no, fuck you. I thought there was nothing to end. Because I know we were just sex Mickey, I promise you I know that.” Ian said his voice grew stronger, resembling the tone he got when he was preparing for a fight. His face lost it’s vulnerability no longer looking like a kicked child, but his hunched over figure still kicked at Mickey’s heart. “So you don’t fucking get to act like I’m-”  
“Jesus Gallagher!” Mickey tried to stop Gallagher’s angered rambling, “Ian!”  
Ian froze halfway through his word looking up at Mickey.

“You- You’re not just- the other day-” Mickey got through three false starts before he tugged his hair frustratedly, but Ian stayed quiet which gave Mickey a flicker of hope. He couldn’t fucking think after Ian’s weird ass behavior. The guy was giving Mickey whiplash with his hot and cold attitude, acting like a kicked puppy one second only to be stripping the next. As Mickey looked at Ian, who looked liked he was trying to stay angry something clicked. Gallagher was fucking vulnerable, he felt exposed. Mickey was a complete idiot for not seeing it before. Mandy had blurted out all of Gallaghers feelings (god Mickey hated that word), out there into the open for Mickey to hear. Their... whatever it was, that they had going on relied heavily on not talking, now they were unbalanced. Gallagher was exposed and Mickey was a closed book, he had the upper hand and Gallagher was trying to do anything to protect himself from the fall out. If the tables were turned, which they never would be since unlike Gallagher Mickey wasn’t a dumbass who blurted out his secrets to anyone with ears, Mickey would’ve either murdered Gallagher or fled the country. 

“Would you just put on you fucking shirt and sit up here so I can try and sort this shit out” Mickey asked, it felt too unbalanced with Ian shirtless and sitting in a corner on the floor. Ian reached over and grabbed his shirt slipping it over his head. When he made no efforts to move, Mickey got off the bed and sat down on the floor, facing Ian. Careful to avoid the slightly charred Barbie arms that were resting on the floor. He tried to think of what to say, there was so much bullshit to unpack he had no idea where to start.

“I didn’t kill Frank” Mickey said, Ian’s head snapped up. “I could’ve, I had the gun, he was alone. But I didn’t and it wasn’t because of the jail time”  
Mickey waited for a minute to see if Ian would respond but Ian just sat there expectantly. The fucker, this was Mickey giving everything he had, Ian better appreciate it.

“I don’t do relationships. I can’t. It’s not cause I’m scared or whatever other weak ass shit you want to pin on me Gallagher. I’m Terry Milkoviches son. I can’- he wouldn’t just kill me Gallagher, he would kill whoever I was with and I can’t let that happen. And I don’t think you get that, sometimes. He would literally kill as in murder, death. Fucking six feet under.” It took everything Mickey had in him to look Ian in the eyes, but he did it anyways. He had to get it through Ian’s thick skull that they didn’t live in a perfect world, it didn’t matter what Mickey wanted, or how badly he wanted it, anytime he cared about something it put them at risk. 

“Mickey, you don’t have to…” Ian said softly, looking unsure of what to do. This is the part where Mickey should shut up, let it go and just continue with their lives. But Mandy words stopped him, the way Ian thought about himself, Mickey couldn’t add onto that. 

“I can’t be a fag. Doesn’t matter if I was born that way or whatever, I can’t. And if I gave into all the faggy stuff you want, we would get careless and somebody would find out.” Mickey looked down at the ground at this. He could feel Ian’s sad eyes on him but couldn’t make himself look up, afraid of what he would see. 

Mickey took a deep breath this was the moment that everything amounted to. Despite what he just said, this was the moment that’s been torturing him this entire time, that he’s been arguing with himself about since the beginning two fucking years ago, 

“It doesn’t matter whether I want it or not” Okay so that didn’t go exactly as planned, but as much as he rehearsed _It doesn’t matter how much I want it_ He wasn’t able to say it, he hoped Ian got it either way. He tapped his fingers against his leg as Ian slowly scooted closer to him, his skin felt raw like he had just ripped it off and shown the whole world his insides. He wanted to run but god dammit he was Milkovich, he might be a Milkovich that takes it up the ass, but a Milkovich nonetheless, and Milkoviches don’t run.

“And you ain’t that dumb Gallagher. You have to know the warm mouth thing was complete shit” Mickey said quietly, Ian looked at him with such wonder Mickey felt a bit sick. “Come on, dumbass you're not just a warm mouth, you’ve got a great cock too”  
Complete silence, Mickey was internally freaking out, that was not what he planned on saying. It was like his brain was actively trying to make his problems with Ian worse. Seriously what the fuck? Mickey all but face palmed, despairingly digging his knuckles into his forehead, waiting for the inevitable fallout. 

Ian laughed, Mickey’s head shot up stunned as he watched Ian full belly laugh. Ian’s entire body shook, he draped his arm across Mickey’s shoulders and lent against him as he tried to catch his breath. Mickey was too shocked to shrug off the arm, he expected shouting maybe a slammed door this? This wasn’t even a possibility. But it just solidified in his brain what Mickey had to do. Gallagher understood him, laughed when he accidentally said stupid shit, could sometimes read the deeper meaning behind the shit that Mickey did. But right now, here on the floor in this room, Ian shouldn’t have to. Mickey already broke so many of his self imposed rules today, what was one more? His death certificate was already signed and if helping Ian sealed his fate then he would just have to deal with the fall out. 

Mickey was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he didn’t notice that Ian had stopped laughing. His head was resting on Mickey’s shoulder looking up at him quietly with a soft look that Mickey knew meant that they were good.

Mickey looked down at Ian’s face taking in the slight smile on his lips, the freckles splattered across his cheeks. Before he could talk himself out of it he tilted his head down, softly kissing Ian. Ian froze and Mickey pulled back unsure, he was about to apologize or more realistically bolt but Ian brought his hands up to cup Mickey’s face and pulled him in again, kissing him with everything he had.

Mickey lost track of time, he forgot about the outside world, his dad, Lip waiting downstairs. All he could think was this was his world right there on the floor in Ian’s bedroom, with their lips pressed together.

When they finally pulled apart they were both panting slightly, trying to catch their breath. Mickey looked away eyeing the poster covered walls and messily made beds. He straightened his back abruptly, and scooted a few inches away from Ian, before Ian could get a chance to misunderstand the situation Mickey spoke,  
“It’s not just the red hair.” He said quickly, trying to spit out the word. “You’re fucking persistent, and goddamn loyal”  
“What?” Ian asked, reaching out to touch Mickey’s hand. Mickey pulled his hands away if he was going to do this he couldn’t touch Ian.  
“And you’re not that bad of a cashier”  
“Mick-” Ian tried to interrupt again but Mickey just held up a hand to silence him “I’m only going to do this faggy bullshit once so you better shut the fuck up and listen” Mickey explained, making a vague gesture that was meant to be him flipping off Ian but looked more like a half-hearted wave.  
“You’ve got a shit sense of humor and I know you’re going to get your ass shot off in the middle of nowhere, but if anyone could make it, it would be you, asshole.” Mickey said rolling his eyes, his obvious distaste for Ian’s ROTC dreams did nothing to lessen the impact behind his words  
“And I’m not going to stroke your ego or some shit like that, but Lip isn’t the only with brains in the family. You’re a goddamn hard worker, towel head should be fucking grateful” 

They sat in silence for a minute as Ian processed the words, and Mickey tried to recover from the mess that just spilled out of him. Mickey spoke first,  
“In case I wasn’t fucking obvious enough, I like you asshole” Mickey said, there it was, Ian looked at him a huge smile taking over his face, “Shut the fuck up, bitch.”  
Ian just kept on smiling, “You know I like you too, Mick”

Mickey definitely knew that, in fact he knew more thanks to Mandy’s big mouth but that was the one part of the conversation they were both going to resolutely ignore. Ian waited for a minute, before he spoke, his face was determined, but his fingers were fiddling with a loose string on the cuff of his shirt. 

“I get that you can’t say or do the relationship shit, but if we’re gonna keep whatever the fuck we’re doing you can’t say the hurtful shit anymore either, I don’t wanna hear it” When Mickey went to protest, Ian’s glare silenced him, “I’m not asking you to be a nice fucking person, that’s not who you are. But you gotta shitting on whatever this is” Ian gestured vaguely to the space between them. Mickey was quiet for a moment before nodding his head. He backed up so his back was leaning against Ian’s bed and Ian copied him, their shoulders brushing slightly.

“Man I need a drink” Mickey complained running his hands through his mussed hair. Ian smiled wickedly, before reaching his hands under his bed and pulling out a six pack of beers. Mickey accepted the drink with a raised eyebrow, Ian shrugged nonchalantly, “I’ve been getting into day drinking.”

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, reveling in each others company after the complete mess that was the past couple of days. Ian spoke first, his voice nervous but determined,  
“Lip knows”  
“I know”  
“And?”  
“I’m still here aren’t I?” Mickey responded shrugging. That was going to take some getting used to, but he would handle it. He didn't really want to get into the idea of people knowing, he needed a break from all the girly shit. He turned his head smirking at Ian “So you talk to Mandy huh? What do you guys paint each others nails too?”  
“Never again.” Ian said laughing as he punched Mickey’s shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there it is. I know Ian doesn't talk much and Mickey monologues a lot but in my mind it fit. My rationalization behind Ian's action is he felt vulnerable you know, he's defensive. I tried to make it realistic where he wasn't just a whimpering soft person hence the anger, I hope it worked. Might be ooc for Mickey but I always thought leading up to 3x06 Mickey was getting to be a lot more open especially in the movie watching sleepover scene, I figured that with the right push he would own up to it. 
> 
> Side note: The amount of cussing is so hard to write, they curse a lot in the show but like I always feel like I'm cursing too much, I think I wrote fuck like 50 times in this fic.


End file.
